The Laws /Lawes family genealogy in Norfolk
I am searching for any descendants of
James Laws and Mary Ann Simpson from the South Creake area of Norfolk, England. More particularly I am interested
in the descendants of one of their children, James Laws who married as Mary Ann Lake.
James and Mary Ann had eleven children,
one of which was Edith (Edyth) Laws. Edyth, as she preferred to be known, maintained a line of correspondence with
the Eggleton family descendants in Wayne County, Pennsylvania who emigrated from Norfolk in 1871. Later the
correspondence was to be carried on by Edyths son Tom who would have appeared to also have had a brother called
Harry.
In 1868 Amelia Lawes married William
Robert Eggleton in South Creake, Norfolk, England. I believe Amelia was the sister of James who married Mary Anne
Lake and therefore also a daughter of James Laws and Mary Ann Simpson.
The Laws family became linked to the
Eggletons through the marriage of William Robert Eggleton and Amelia Laws at South Creake, Norfolk, England in the
year 1868. The couple had a child the following year, Amelia Eggleton. Unfortunately later in 1869 William Robert
died leaving Amelia to raise their young daughter.
I have some copies of letters written to
Lela Maudsley in America regarding the family history and would dearly love to find the copies of the letters
written by Lela and sent to England to complete the picture. The early letters, one I believe 1914 and later 1950
were written by Edith Lawes who preferred to spell her name Edyth Laws. Edyth was the child of James Laws and Mary
Ann Lake.
Later in the late 1980's the
correspondence continued with one of Edyth's children, Tom and his wife Stella. Tom would also have appeared to
have a brother Harry who also got smitten by the genealogy bug. This correspondence between the family in England
and Wayne County, Pennsylvania continued through the generations and was maintained up to about
1990.
Tom and Stella lived in Ropley, Alresford
and other addresses were mentioned like the Ten Cottages which are either in Syderstone or South Creake, 8
Highfield Road which I believe to be in Horbury, Wakefield, West Yorkshire and 31 South Avenue which I believe to
be near South Creake.
If you have links to this family or can help add to this story I would be very happy
to hear from you. Tom, Edyth and Lela were working on genealogy in the days before internet and although things
might be easier now their stories and memoirs are an important of that family story.

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